Chicago is Named ‘Rat Capital’ of the United States

The city had a total of 50,963 rat complaints in 2017 compared to 32,855 in 2014 – an increase of 55%. The study was done by apartment search site RentHop.com, which looked at complaints in Chicago, along with New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. New York came in second place with 19,152 complaints, while D.C. followed with 5,036. Boston had the least complaints with 2,488.

Streets and Sanitation Spokeswoman Marjani Williams disputed the study, stating, “Rodent complaints are not an accurate indicator of the rat population in an area. However, they do show that Chicagoans care about the health and safety of their communities,” saying the department is vigilant in encouraging to report rodent activity “so that our crews can quickly investigate and address every sighting.”